Film Preview: Suffragette (2015)

Page Revisions:

(June 21, 2015) Original
(October 18, 2015) New Posters (#1-#25)

Release Date:

October 23, 2015

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.”

Poster Rating: C- (2) / B (4) / C- (6) / B- / B- (3) / D- (3) / D / C- (4) / F

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Review: (#1 & #2) The colors of the women’s suffrage movement are used as a stark background, but while it’s symbolic, it’s not a particularly clever usage. (#3-#6) These posters are designed to make these characters fit in a bygone era, which gives the film a period feel without requiring too much effort. (#7-#12) Apart from the different one-word descriptions of the characters, these character designs are bland and forgettable.

(#13) The primary poster design for the film is a bit lifeless in terms of creative distinctiveness, but it works better than most of the other designs. (#14-#16) These designs are reminiscent of the black-and-white photographs that would have been taken at the time these riots occurred. It puts the characters into the appropriate era without much effort and the result is mostly fitting. (#17-#19) Back to the colors of British women’s suffrage, the purple white and green colors are used poorly and forgettably.

(#20) This is perhaps a slightly better use of the suffrage colors, but it’s not a design you want to grace your wall or your theater. (#21-#24) Solidarity designs that look like graffiti or protest posters hung on walls to get the word out feel entirely out of place given the film’s time period and even if they were intended to evoke a present day call to action, they just aren’t that fitting. (#25) Pink, white and pastel green are hues too far from the original tri-color symbolism and the words are appropriate, but undistinguished.

Trailer Rating: C+

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Review: A conventional trailer design highlights too often that Meryl Streep is in the film even though from the looks of things she’s barely in it. There are some very interesting ideas expressed in the trailer, but none that I think will connect it to potential viewers unless they are utterly enamored with this impeccable cast or the subject of women’s rights. Come to think of it, that should be enough to draw people to the theater since this trailer probably won’t manage it.

Oscar Prospects:

Certain to be one of the films we talk about over the coming weeks, but will it be enough to impact the Oscars in a meaningful way? With that cast, the possibilities are strong. However, there are rumblings that the film might not be as good as we all want it to be.